If only
by Erin Roberts Guardian's Light
Summary: Four years ago, a tragic event broke the Guardians apart. Now, the effects of that event have come full circle.


"If only..." A W.i.t.c.h Fanfiction

Chapter One: Present

The bell chirped through the halls of Sheffield Institute, and thus echoed in the end of the day for the tired student body. The mass of students flooded through the halls and exited the building with the sounds of both joy and dread. The joy was for the weekend that was finally upon them, and the dread was for the homework that many had over the weekend.

For Taranee Cook however, this weekend was far from ordinary. The dark skinned junior pulled open her locker and quickly placed the text books and notebooks that she wouldn't need over the weekend inside. The rest of them would stay within her purple backpack until she returned home. She then made sure to do a final check of everything in her locker and in her bag before closing her locker.

"Boo," Taranee hopped in surprise as someone put a hand on her shoulder. She let out a small yelp of surprise which caused the red haired girl behind her to start laughing. Immediately, Taranee knew who her mystery assailant was and turned her brown eyes to glare over her shoulder in annoyance.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, Will." Taranee grumbled to her red haired best friend. Will Vandom had been Taranee's closest friend since the Will moved to Heatherfield from Fadden Hills. Their time as Guardians of the Veil only helped to strengthen that friendship further. Though it was easy to say that both of the girls had changed much since their first meeting. Will wore herself much more confidently then the introverted thirteen year old girl that Taranee met, no doubt it stemmed from her experiences being the leader of W.i.t.c.h. She still dressed in baggy clothes, though now she wore zip up hoodies and usually left them open to show what was underneath, today being a light blue mini-tee. Across her shoulder was her gym bag filled with the red head's swim gear.

"Sorry," Will kept laughing. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "You were so deep in thought that I couldn't help it. What's on your mind?"

"I'm going to visit Irma's grave, so..." Taranee sighed and straitened herself and smoothed out her orange sweater. Her eyes saddened just as Will's did.

"You're getting ready for Hurricane Hay Lin." Will's gaze looked down the hallway. It had been four years since the events that separated the Guardians, and turned W.i.t.c.h into just Will and Taranee.

Taranee nodded with another sigh. She was there to witness the little Air Guardian's fury first hand, but she didn't want to dwell on it. "Thankfully, she has an art showing for a scholarship today."

"So you're taking a peek at the dragon's treasure while the dragon is away." Taranee couldn't help but laugh with Will at the comment. In ways, Will had picked up some of Irma's sarcasm. Taranee figured it was Will's way of remembering the spunky water guardian, even if Hay Lin didn't like it. Will the lifted up her arm to look at her watch. "Well, I should head over to practice."

"Kay Will, I'll see you later." Taranee waved to her best friend as the two went their separate ways. As Taranee walked down the steps towards the front gate of the school, she gulped. She prayed that she wouldn't see Hay Lin while she intentionally walked the long way to her destination.

The formally always cheerful Hay Lin had become so distant since Irma died. Only Eric could get the girl to smile, and that was just a gentle content one. They were far from the large exaggerated ones that Hay Lin was known for. It became obvious that Irma was the pillar that kept the always happy Hay Lin happy, and without that pillar Hay Lin could be set off by any little thing. Yep, Taranee really didn't want to deal with Hay Lin. Something was already off about this weekend, and having Hay Lin directing her overly cold attitude at her would just give Taranee a headache.

Taranee took a deep breath as she approached the gates of the Heatherfield Cemetery. It was to prepare her for whatever may wait inside. The whole cemetery felt so much creepier at sunset. The various shaped grave stones cast long shadows that made the entire place much more foreboding. Not that the former Guardian of Fire was afraid. One of the things that Taranee was grateful about was that being a Guardian allowed her to face her fears head on. Though some things could still get to her, creepy overgrown shadows were now nowhere near the list.

She made her way across the grounds towards Irma's grave, but stopped short as she arrived. Someone was already there. She was tall and wore tattered dirty clothes that looked too small for her thin body. The hood of her jacket was up, but Taranee could see a tuft of matted blonde hair from underneath it. The girl must have heard Taranee approach, and before Taranee could say hello the girl ran from sight.

Taranee stood there stunned for a minute. She couldn't think of any reason why someone would run from her. She just shrugged it off as something else weird about this weekend, and walked over to Irma's gravestone. "Sorry I Haven't been around much Irma. Homework and all, you understand." Taranee then noticed the small blue flower that was growing out of the solid stone. Taranee looked at the flower closely, and then she turned to look in the direction that the strange girl had ran. She pulled her phone out quickly and snapped a picture before running out of the cemetery.

* * *

Will Vandom floated blissfully in the Sheffield swimming pool. Practice had ended thirty minutes ago, but Will always stayed after practice. She enjoyed swimming and it was her way of relieving stress. She stared at the ceiling and just floated there. Her rhythmic breaths almost seemed as though she was in a trance. Soon, she flipped and began to swim her last set of laps. She then began to pull herself out of the water when she heard the door open.

"Will," Taranee's scream knocked Will off balance and back into the water. The red head pulled herself to the surface and glared at her best friend with half her face submerged in the blue water. She then once again began to pull herself from the pool only this time closer to where Taranee was.

"Is this your way of getting back at me for the locker." Will asked as she stretched. She then walked towards her bag with Taranee following close behind.

"No, Will," Taranee growled while still trying to catch her breath. She had run all the way to the school from the cemetery. Will had sat down next to her bag as she began to dry her arms off. Taranee just sat next to her friend. "You know how I went to visit Irma's grave."

"Yeah," Will looked at her friend with a worried glance. She removed her swim cap and goggles before giving Taranee her full attention. "Was Hay Lin there?"

Taranee shook her head. "No, it was someone else. She looked to be our age and wore really ragged clothes." Will looked at Taranee with confused brown eyes. "I think she might have been homeless or something."

"T, you're worried about some random person at a cemetery." Will shrugged and giggled a little. It seemed to her that Taranee was still Taranee. However, this only caused the red head to get an angry glare from Taranee.

"Well, she was at Irma's grave, and she ran when I got close. I didn't think anything of it until I saw this." Taranee reached into her pocket for her phone and showed Will the picture of the flower.

"That is a pretty flower Taranee." Will smiled at the picture. Her expression showed her confusion at where the former Fire Guardian was going with this.

"It's a flower growing out of a solid granite tombstone." Taranee said harshly to Will's dismissal.

"Plants grow in rocks all the time." Will smiled and raised her hands in surrender. "It's a natural process of erosion."

"They usually leave cracks within the stone. There isn't a single crack anywhere." Taranee responded.

"T," Will turned to look at the sparkling water of the pool. She positioned herself so that she could rest her head in her hands. "You're not telepathic anymore, so you're going to have to actually spell it out for me."

"Well," Taranee looked as though she was having trouble with what to say. "You know how Cornelia vanished around the time that Irma died."

Will sighed, "Taranee, we've been over this before. Corny's been missing for four years now. Even though I want to believe that she's still alive, I just really don't see how it's possible."

"But I saw her Will." Taranee stood up and placed a hand on her chest.

Will slowly stood and stretched. She then placed a gentle hand on Taranee's shoulder and gave the girl a small forced smile. Her tear filled chocolate colored eyes told Taranee to drop the topic. Taranee just calmly sighed and nodded.

"So, my mom and Dean are away because of some teacher conference. Do you want to come over." Will asked while wiping water out of her eyes. Taranee nodded in agreement. The loss of their friends was harder for Will than it was for any of them, and Taranee knew that. So, they both could use some down time.


End file.
